Day 1 Eye strain - road to recovery

For over a year, I have had consistent eye strain. I got a new glasses prescription in August last year, and it all seemed better for a couple of weeks, but sure enough, the same symptoms occurred once again. It has been causing me a load of stress throughout the last year, to the extent that I have struggled to work and study at certain times.

I heard about TMS a week ago, and it blew my mind. After having seen 10 specialists, it all makes so much sense, as I think that consciously and subconsciously I try to repress a lot of stress and anxiety. In addition to that, I'm pretty perfectionistic and definitely have OCD. I can also be pretty a pretty sensitive person, but I feel that I show a lot of care for others. It only dawned on me a couple of days ago, that my left hip/lower back/sciatic issues (have had them for 2 years now) are no doubt also related to this.

I definitely feel a lot better after reading so many success stories and understanding the personality traits and repression of anger/stress/anxiety, and how that can affect one's body. Also, I have written out all thoughts that come to mind with regard to these feelings. I definitely believe that this is the cause for my issues, however, sometimes I find it hard sometimes to overwrite the symptoms mentally and physically.
How have you guys gone about this during the early stages? Any help would be much appreciated!

 

First thing is to start the 'Structured Educational Programme' - if you click on the 'The TMS Wiki' button at the top of this page - then look down the left column till you find it. It gives you a daily exercise to do to discover the areas you need to work on. As you work thru this - you journal and use meditation and mindfulness to start solving things. If you have strong emotions like anger - that need extra help, look on this forum, people have listed books, videos, websites and many other things that can help. The books section is very useful. I listed several books that helped me.
Just take it step by step - don't pressure yourself - have a day off occasionally (i didn't do the SEP at weekends...) and be mindful that - if you are a perfectionist - you WILL try to be perfect at solving TMS too! We all do - and have to catch ourselves, slow down, and chill out. Make sure that getting out in the countryside to breathe in fresh air is part of your healing - nature is the ultimate healer... Good luck

 

Jonjon:
I've been at the SEP for about a month and am on day 22. I read Sarno's books many times in the past and it helped me with my back problems, but not all of my other TMS manifestations of which I have a lot! The SEP is really paying off and, although I have a long way to go, day-to-day life is a lot easier now. When I started, I wanted to get going, and found it a bit overwhelming to work through the recovery program first. So, I did (and still do) the recovery program in parallel, which I found is really useful and reinforces what I am learning.

Also, I want to thank you - I have major eye problems, but they've been labeled with various things and given various reasons over the years, and I never thought of this as a TMS manifestation - just something I had to live with. I think you are right about the TMS connection, and it gives me hope for dealing with it more effectively! Thanks!

Good luck going forward. Stick with it but don't stress about the rate of your progress. Think about little ways you can reward yourself as you go - you deserve it, and it will help your progress.

Bugs

 

Thanks for the replies! It's so comforting to hear that other people are in virtually the exact same situation!
Keep on keeping on!